A drink that’s smooth, sweet, and filled with sugary pearls that pop in your mouth as you chew away at the lovely dessert filling the bottom of your cup. This milk tea, or bubble tea drink, is called Boba tea! You may have heard of this trendy beverage from your peers, local plazas, or even social media.
This tea-based drink is commonly known from its Taiwanese origins, where many buy the drink because of its convenience and how many flavors there are available for you to pick and choose from — green tea, brown sugar, mango, red bean, and many more. Yet despite, the various amount of flavors present, this drink has earned its name because of its rich history and today, we will explain briefly just how this popular bubble tea received its name, Boba Tea.
How Did Boba Tea Come To Be and What Is It?
Well, as stated before, Boba tea is a tea-based drink that consists of tapioca balls and can be served either hot or cold. The tapioca balls that sit at the bottom of the drink are created from cassava starch (which comes from a cassava plant) which starts off white and tasteless but then ends up dark and chewy as syrup is added to these balls for hours. Soon after, the iconic Boba tea is created!
However, in the 1600s, Taiwan was introduced to tapioca balls early on from the cassava plant in South America because of its starch that helped create the stars of the drink. It was from this discovery that soon after many were interested in trying out the tapioca balls for themselves, but not as a bubble tea. Instead, the tapioca balls were used to put on items such as shaved ice. It was and still is a convenient snack, so why not keep the tradition afloat?
Later on, in about the 1980s, it is believed that basic of the normal tea stands that are held and made everywhere in Taiwan. In lieu of this knowledge, many speak about the person who came up with the idea to mix shaved ice, tapioca balls, and milk tea in the first ever Boba tea. And, because of the round shape of the Boba tea balls, many began calling the tapioca balls, ‘Boba’. Because of this, the name has since stuck for a long time, and is catchy enough that many know what Boba or bubble tea is.
So, what have we learned about Boba today? For starters, much of what is known about Boba tea is based around traditional history, yet many only know about Boba tea from social media websites, popularized cultures, and trends. The Boba tea is a universal drink for anyone, giving others a chance to experience the taste of Boba tea from years worth of exploring new ways to create convenient food and drinks.
Next time you get some Boba, think about how much history has been made to create the tapioca balls as well as the beginning of the well-known bubble.